


The Void's Knight

by redrogue



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, Character Death, Gen, One Shot, Post-Sburb, Sadstuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-29
Updated: 2013-07-29
Packaged: 2017-12-21 18:34:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/903506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redrogue/pseuds/redrogue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In an offshoot timeline, the Condesce has won and the kids, now young adults, have either joined the rebellion or been captured by the regime.</p><p>Equius, manipulated and conditioned by the Empire to become the next Executioner, stands before the rebellion commander Karkat Vantas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Void's Knight

They mirror their ancestors in almost every way.  
  
Karkat struggles to keep his voice steady in the face of a glinting arrow. "Equius... so this is what you've been doing, huh?"  
  
The blue blood does not answer. He steps forward stiffly, as if guided by a puppeteer. The mutant in front of him is held still by the Empress's drones and his bow is aching to fire.  
  
Karkat raises his voice slightly, still trying to keep it in check. "Alternia to musclefuck! Did you hear me??"  
  
Step.  
  
A dejected sigh. "Of course not."  
  
Step.  
  
"How could you have, since you've been like this for gog knows how fucking long... "  
  
 Step.  
  
"We tried to save you, we did!"  
  
Step.  
  
His voice is near to a scream now. "But I guess thanks to me and my WONDERFUL leadership skills, we couldn't!"  
  
Step.  
  
 "Tch, you always did know terrible I was."  
  
Step.  
  
 "Nepeta's been working to the bone just trying to bring you back to us."  
  
 A pause. Step.  
  
 "I'm sorry."  
  
 Step.  
  
 "I'm SORRY."  
  
 Step.  
  
 "I'M SORRY!"  
  
 His head a rag doll suspended in shame, Karkat does not see the bow his friend has locked a centimeter from his face. The rebel leader looks up, past the arrow, to find Equius' helmet shorting out frantically and the blue blood's expression of desperate resistance.  
  
 "N-n777'%-no-o0nn0907"  
  
 His whole frame twitches with pain in rhythm of the helmet's shortages- it is a part of him now, and rejecting it is has become an impossible act.  
  
 Equius throws his bow down and struggles to breathe adequately. Stumbling, he tears the strength limiters of his hands, charges toward Karkat... and pummels the robots restraining him into scrap.  
  
 Karkat, dazed, can only stand still.  
  
 "AAAA%%#$^--AAA-AA%@@@aAAAAGGGHHH!!!!"  
  
 The novice Executioner, however, crumbles on the ground while clutching his head tight and permeating the chamber with a dreadful scream, for any actions of free will must be penalized immensely.  
  
 An impossible act, but not enough so because for all of Karkat's insolence, all the cursing and yelling and false bravado, he was still his former leader. His Knight.  
  
 His... friend.  
  
 "Equius!" the mutant blood rushes over to the other male's side and helps him on his back as gently as he can muster.  
  
 "Equius... godammit, hold on..." He mutters so worriedly and panicked that he does not notice any pain when the higherblood grips his hand.  
  
 "V-va~#%-a-nta2..."  
  
 "I'm here. I swear, you're getting out of this nookstinking hellhole, I promi-"  
  
 A slow shake of a head. "I c@nn0t." The helmet continues to spark and surge and Equius clenches his hold on Karkat's hand tighter, eyes shut.  
  
 "What? Why the hell not? Motherfuck, I'm not the prostitute child of a plastic bag, I CAN carry you-"  
  
 Another head shake. "No-0--0, not a-as I am now, never as wha-@-t I've beco--00me. Vantas, c-can you do some... thing... for me?"  
  
 "What is it?"  
  
 "May I see Nepeta?"  
  
 Karkat thinks for a moment. Nepeta is either back at the rebellion's base or on some other mission, but Equius refuses to leave.  
  
 He rummages through his coat pockets to pull out a wallet that contains pictures of his friends. Dave, John, Aradia, Sollux... ah!  
  
 The young man places Nepeta's picture in the blue blood's free hand.  
  
 "Th-h@nk you." he gives a faint smile. "... Can you do one more thing?"  
  
 "Sure."  
  
 "This helmet. 1-It is designed to shock me with a voltage to match a lightning bolt s-sh)-0uld I ever attempt to remove it, but i-t will not affect anyone else who does so. Will you...?"  
  
 "With pleasure."  
  
 The commander lets go of Equius's hand and begins to pry it off with his sickle.  
  
 "Damn! What's- What the fuck is wrong with this skull trap?!"  
  
 After several minutes, Karkat finally manages to separate the unholy thing from his friend.  
  
 "Okay, now that THAT'S over with. Equ-"  
  
 Silence.  
  
 "Equius?"  
  
 Equius lies absolutely still,  holding the picture of Nepeta on his chest.  
  
 His skin is cold.  
  
 "NonononononoNOnononoohGODno..." Karkat  repeats the mantra as if it will become true. He grabs his friend's hand once more.  
  
 "Come on, come on WAKE UP you idiot wake up, wake up, WAKE UP!"  
  
 No response.  
  
 The communication device hidden under Karkat's clothes suddenly speaks up with a certain yellow blood's voice.  
  
 "KK! We finally found out more about the helmet controlling EQ. Turns out, it wasn't mind control at all. No, it shocks him every time he does something out of turn. That thing's ingrained into his skull so deep it's practically a part of him now. Those wires, they're pretty much tree's roots KK. Lose the helmet, lose his life. Don't under any circumstances-"  
  
 Sollux is cut off by the commander's soft sobs.  
  
 "We're too late, aren't we?"  
  
 Karkat continues to weep.  
  
 "I'm so sorry, KK. I-"  
  
 He switches the device off and holds his friend's limp hand close. Reinforces will come from either the rebellion or the empire soon, it did not matter. He had to be here, be beside him, the boy who wasted the towel supply, who vehemently followed the hemospectrum, who built limbs for his friends and had everything in his hands shatter... the boy who pretended to hate him, all to shield his void-laden heart.  
  
Perhaps the thing that enraged the mutant most was not that he unknowingly caused the other's demise nor that he now had to inform Nepeta she no longer had a moirail. No, neither of those.  
  
 It was the fact that Equius's expression was the most peaceful and happiest he'd ever seen.

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by this artwork here: http://sadstuck.tumblr.com/post/16134029944/headtraumakid-of-course-there-would-never-be
> 
> I will likely be revising this fic sometime in the future.


End file.
